Archetype
by Azayaka Kiryu
Summary: Ever wonder what your Archetype would be like? Tails quickly finds out what his is after being framed for the murder of a school bully, gets kicked out of Knothole, and eventually learns to hate the ones he once loved...
1. What Changed It All

This story is original, but may seem a lot like **Spyder** by **Renz**. But then again, I'm sure **Spyder** sounds like many other stories before it. Sorry if this is an inconvenience to anyone. I've NEVER liked Tails, and I don't know if I ever will. But no one else will fit this story's theme. I don't know the outlay of Archie's comics, so I'm going to make my own map up.

* * *

**WHAT CHANGED IT ALL…**

There he was. A short, skinny, orange, twelve year old kitsune. Walking down the school hallway, paying no mind to the rants of a few kids near him. 'Freak!' and 'Deformed freak!' were a few of them. What he didn't get is, why did they all say freak? Nothing was original anymore. But, he did know why they were screaming these things at him.

He had two tails.

Two tails, eh? Nothing wrong with that in reality, for that just made for better balance and the ability to fly.

Oh yeah. He could fly.

He made his way down the hall towards his locker, which he would soon leave behind. He opened it up with his key, threw his books into the locker, and slammed it shut. From then on he just walked away. He barely had to stop to do all of it; it was one swift motion. Because of getting chased down by bullies so often, he learned to unlock the locker and do all the necessities in less than 7 seconds.

He approached the end of the hallway, where the doors leading to the outside world stood before him. He opened the doors and immediately smelled the fresh air before him. He proceeded down the small flight of stairs onto the sidewalk below, turned left, and stopped. There, waiting for him by a small tree, was one of the most beautiful tings he had ever seen. Her name… Arieal. Another fox, but slightly lighter in color, and lack of hair extruding from her forehead. To him, she was beautiful. Of course, he had never really thought of dating, for she was just a friend. But she was still beautiful in his mind. As was the pink hedgehog approaching her. He started walking towards her and the hedgehog, named Amy, and Tails met Arieal at the same time. The female kitsune smiled at the two.

"Hey Tails! Hey Amy!" she said happily. The fox and hedgehog replied with another hello. They talked for about two minutes about homework until another light purple fox came up to them. A female kitsune, once again, who was a twin to Tails. Her name was Kari. Kari Prower. Everyone greeted her and continued to talk for a minute before proceeding unto their day ahead. They started walking in the general direction of the royal palace, also known as Acorn Palace. Tails, if I forgot to mention, was best friends with a one, and only, Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic had found Tails and Kari in the great forest, trying to fix a weird transportation device that had broken. After short talk and the mention of the foxes not having a home, Sonic took them in. Isn't that what a normal, loving, ignorant fellow would do? Nice to the world- it's his only friend. Ever since, Tails and Sonic had been best friends.

The four kept headed towards the Acorn Palace, eager to see Sonic and do something enthralling for the day. The only enthralling part of the day was right after school, except for the times Sonic and Princess Sally took the three on some kind of trip, whereas they would be gone for up to two days.

Sonic had become a hero to Tails. Tails wanted to be like Sonic in every way, besides species and the fact that he had two tails. He wanted a place in the Freedom Fighters like Sonic and Sally. Sonic admired this and had taught Tails all he could manage about Freedom Fighter techniques, hand to hand combat, and Tails had his own little technique; Aerial assault.

Tails, Amy, Kari, and Arieal continued on, talking about various things for ten minutes, until they came within twenty yards of the palace.

Then, a flash. The three stood in confusion until Tails yelled. Eventually the light was reduced to smoke, and through the smoke the three female twelve year olds could see a large metal object carrying what looked like Tails in its arms. The two yelled after it, but nothing. Sonic, Sally, and a brown coyote, Antoine D'Coolette. They saw the three girls and asked what happened. Arieal answered first.

"That swatbot! It's got Tails!" And with that, Sonic was off. He looked for about five minutes and saw nothing. But as worried as he was for his pal, he continued looking. After an hour, he found nothing. He returned to a very worried group, which was most of the Freedom Fighters and Tails' two friends. After hearing the news, everyone felt worried, and the young ones and Sally started to cry. Tails was like a family member to Sally and Sonic, and Amy, Kari, and Arieal too. But Sonic would not cry. He never had, and he never would. He settled everyone down and got them all to come inside for a relaxing break, but throughout the whole thing no one was truly relaxed.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Tails awoke on a metal bed, very uncomfortable. He looked around the metal, shiny room, full of tubes of liquid, chambers, and all sort of other contraptions, until he noticed he was chained to the table. 'What in the heck is going on? Oh my God, this can't be!' Worried and scared, he struggled to get free. But this shortly stopped after a familiar figure walked into the room, accompanied by two swatbots. Tails gasped. 'Oh, Jesus…' There, standing beside him, was Dr. Ivo Robotnik. He was very good with machines, like Tails. They both had high enough IQ to be labeled geniuses, but only Robotnik admitted so. Tails was too modest for that.

Robotnik smiled. "Miles. Miles 'Tails' Prower. You must be wondering why you're here." Tails was sweating and scared, but nodded anyways. "Ahh, I see. Have you been getting tired of all those bullies lately?" Miles didn't know he knew about the current issue. Robotnik continued on. "Well, I want to make you stronger. Stronger, so that you can handle those bastardic kids, and teach them a lesson when they mess with you…" Tails gulped. "… you will be able to defend yourself. Take care of them when they pick on you. You can show them NOT to mess with you anymore!" Tails wrenched around, trying to escape once more. Robotnik laughed. "Ahh, Tails. You won't be getting out of that. I am going to make you a warrior." Tails stopped moving.

"Sonic is not going to let you get away with this! He's going to come here really soon, just watch!" Robotnik laughed and pulled out an injection needle filled with purple liquid. Tails flinched.

"You don't have a choice." With that, Robotnik injected Tails with the liquid. Tails screamed and fidgeted for a minute, but eventually passed out.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Sonic ran through the lair of Ivo Robotnik, his greatest enemy in Mobius. He had not been in the building five minutes and all of the guards were neatly taken care of thanks to his stealth. He slowly inched around the nearest corner, and looked down the hall. There were three hallways that this one broke out into, but at the end there was a room labeled 'Security'. The door was wide open. He ran down to it as fast as he could, and found two swatbots in the room. He took them out with ease. He then walked over to the control panel, which had twenty or so screens above it. He scanned the screens looking for his best friend. 'Come on… Tails, where are ya?'

Just about then, he spotted a screen that showed some sort of lab, apparently one where he robotisized Mobians, and made them of his army. And the very last chamber, filled with green liquid, contained an orange two-tailed kitsune. Sonic's eyes grew wide. 'TAILS!' he screamed in his head, and ran down the hall and took the second left. He ran to the end, and took a right. He then entered the first door on the left. He walked through the lab, figuring out where his friend was on display. He found him at the end of the room, unconscious in the chamber. The liquid looked as though it was feeding him with air, so that he wouldn't drown. Sonic was disgusted. 'How could Robotnik do this to someone?' he thought as he broke the glass and grabbed the fox. He laid Tails over his shoulder and ran out of the room. He ran his way to the nearest exit of the lair and continued to speed home.

About ten minutes later, he was back in Knothole. He ran quickly into the palace and to his room while the other Freedom Fighters and the three children followed him. He entered his room, and laid the fox on his bed. "Tails! Tails! Are you ok?" He nudged the unconscious kitsune and continued to call out to him for a good three minutes until he finally woke. He opened his eyes and looked around. He groaned.

"Sonic? What in the heck happened?"

Sonic didn't waste time in explaining. "Robotnik captured you. Apparently he was going to robotisize you. I broke in and took you out before he noticed." Tails thought for a minute. He remembered. The table. Then the chamber filled with the green substance. The substance that felt like water, but could enable him to breath. The fear, when he woke in the liquid. He hugged Sonic and thanked him.

"Thank you Sonic!" Sonic hugged him back and replied with a 'your welcome'. Kari and the other two then burst in, and they all exchanged hugs. Not long afterwards, everyone had a nice dinner before Kari and Tails were sent to bed while Amy and Arieal were sent home. Everyone said goodnight and went to their seperate rooms.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Tails jerked. He squinted his eyes while having this nightmare. The same kind of nightmare that he usually had. Just random kids walking around, throwing things at him, kicking him, beating him. He let this go on, and continued to jerk in his sleep. And then his dream took an unexpected twist. He overpowered them. He stood up and grabbed a book off of his desk. He then swung at two of the kids, knocking them out with just three hits each. He then moved on to the next one, blood running down his face, and his gloves stained with the same red liquid. Then he used the same method and took out at least five other kids. Then, he faced his biggest bully- Branson. The raccoon begged him not to hurt him, but Tails refused. He threw the book down and grabbed a random pencil of someone's desk. The look in his eyes, if anyone were to really see them, was one of pure evil. A scary look, none the least. He raised the pencil, and with a scream from Branson, stabbed the raccoon with the pencil, and slashed it to the other side of his head. He smiled with a scary smile that showed no mercy to anyone.

Outside of his head, right there in his bed, a mist rose from his body. This mist soon turned orange and started to shape like Tails. After a few minutes of modeling, the figure stood next to Tails. It looked just like him, except his eyes were a darker blue, and they showed no sign of friendliness.

This clearly, in the words of psychology, was Tails' Shadow.

The shadow is an unconscious complex that is defined as the repressed and suppressed aspects of the conscious self. It is one of four Archetypes of one's self. There are constructive and destructive types of shadow.

On the destructive side, it often represents everything that the conscious person does not wish to acknowledge within themselves. For instance, someone who identifies as being kind has a shadow that is harsh or unkind. Conversely, an individual who is brutal has a kind shadow. The shadow of persons who are convinced that they are ugly appears to be beautiful. On the constructive side, the shadow may represent hidden positive influences. This figure of the kitsune's was clearly destructive.

The figure smiled evilly at Miles as he slept before slowly climbing out of the window, shutting it as he flew away. It flew straight towards the school, the same evil smile on it's face the whole way. This night was proving to be going absolutely nowhere until this unknown figure decided to unwillingly extrude from it's host, meaning to cause harm in such's life. It reached the school and climbed in through the first window it saw. From there, it made its way to Tails' classroom. It smiled even more evilly than before.

And this is where Tails' life changed forever.


	2. Once Innocent

Starting this chap, I'm using music to enhance the mood. This will happen a LOT in later chapters. To listen to the songs I have mentioned, go to my Putfile, which I will post in my profile next week. Anyways, chap two.

**ONCE INNOCENT**

Chapter Theme: _Fall From Grace_ by Magna-Fi

**-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --**

**-- --**

**QUE:**_ Tongue Tied _by Eve 6

_-- --_

Tails, Kari, and Arieal walked through the front doors of the school, expecting a long day ahead of them. Tails sighed. "They all are so… plain. Organized. Boring… does anything change?" Kari laughed.

"That's because your mind is so advanced compared to theirs, it makes them look like infants."

It was true. Miles was an utter genius. Smarter than Sonic, Sally, and Kari put together. Or, almost. But, they alone could not be smarter by themselves. Tails was the only kid who sits and does calculus when he should be multiplying 6 times 7. He passed every science project, and made the other kids' projects look like shit. He rarely had any flaws in anything like that, and if he did, he found them pretty quick after making them. There wasn't much he did that wasn't perfect. Of course, he wasn't perfect, but that's what others viewed him as; they disliked it. That's the second reason he was target for their bullying.

The three separated and Tails headed towards his locker. He opened his locker and grabbed his books immediately. He then shut it and put the lock back on. After doing so, he headed towards his first class. He walked to the end of the hall, entered the classroom, and sat at his desk. The class is irrelevant because now we skip halfway into the day.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Tails finished his essay in no time at all. Basically because it was easy. It was just a biography on some famous person. He chose Sonic, of course. A few other people finished theirs right after him, so nothing was really to be targeted. Except, the kids were bastards. With no apparent reason, the looks and names were called, quietly as they passed him.

"Freak."

He just shrugged and went back to his desk. He looked at all the other kids who were looking at him with angered faces. He looked towards Branson, and received the finger from the raccoon. Tails just glared at him. He then got a sheet of paper out and started to doodle. What did he doodle? The Acorn Palace. He had amazing drawing talent, also. He continued to draw, occasionally hearing words like 'fag' and 'freak', until he completed the outline. Just about then, the bell rang. The end of school bell. Tails put his things away, just like the other kids. He then picked up his books and proceeded to walk out of the classroom. On the way out, he was shoved by Branson, straight into the pencil sharpener. Tail winced in pain and looked down to see a cut that was bleeding a little. He just wiped the blood on a tissue and walked out.

Out in the hallway, after he reached his locker and opened his door, Branson and his friends, Jake, a raccoon; and Brent, a chipmunk; were waiting for him. He opened his locker real quick-like and threw his books in there. Branson stuck his hands out, waiting for a high five from Tails.

"Come on, Tails! Gimme five!"

Tails just looked at him and shook his head whilst shutting his locker. Branson looked at him funny. He then got angered. He grabbed Tails' right arm and bent it back. Tails let out a quiet cry of pain. Branson just held the arm back, smiling. Pretty soon he let go, and slammed Tails' head into the locker. The side of Tails' head hit the metal, causing him to stumble back a bit before the three charged at him. He jumped so that they went past him, and took off towards the exit. He landed and opened the door, whilst running down the stairs, searching for his friends. He soon found them, all three. He ran up to them and stopped, bent over and huffing. Kari shook her head.

"You just take that from them?" Tails looked up.

"I'm not gonna do anything about it. That'll just make it worse."

Amy looked at him, with a hint of anger. "They're just bastards… they'll get over it. They sure want the ability to fly, I bet." Everyone agreed with this, and they began to walk towards the palace. Sonic, though, was just running up to them. He stopped and waved.

"Hey, guys! Ready to go do something interesting?" The four kids nodded. "Alright then? What today?" Kari stepped up.

"Well… we could have a race!" Everyone laughed at this, and the five went on their way.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

An hour later, in the locker room, Branson was getting his gym clothes and football from his assigned athletics locker. He was just thinking of where his playbook was when the door opened. He looked, but nothing was there, so he just figured it was Leon or someone on his football team. 'Oh yeah, Cody's locker!' He went down to the end of the isle of lockers and turned the corner to Cody's locker. He opened it, grabbed his playbook, then turned back in the direction of his locker. He turned the corner to see Tails standing there.

**-- --**

**QUE:**_ Ashamed _by Orgy

_-- --_

He had a creepy smile on his face. "What in the hell do you want, freak?" Branson just pushed him out of the way. But this time, he didn't stumble as far back as usual. The fox still had that smile, except it was bigger, but Branson didn't notice. The fox grabbed the raccoon by the collar with amazing force. He stared at Branson in the eye. From Branson's perspective, the eyes were terrifying. A look of doom. Tails then dragged the raccoon to the mirror. He held the raccoon's face up to the mirror.

"You see that?" Branson nodded his head.

"Yea. That's my face dumbass. Now LET ME DOWN!" He struggled to get free, but Miles kicked his tailbone.

"No…. it's the real freak. Hate to be the dick to let you know, but now it's time to say goodbye." The raccoon frowned.

"What?"

The kitsune just smiled even more now. "I said it. You had no right to pick on him. For that stupid shit. There has to be a better way to relay your harsh messages."

The raccoon squirmed. "He? You mean you? And a better way? Such as, 'You are a freak. No one likes you. Have a nice day, Tails!' and give him a candy bar?"

The fox slammed the hostage's face into the mirror. "NO! I mean you could shut up and keep it to yourself! No one needs this shit. This is how I let things go." The kitsune slammed the side of his head into the mirror, this time breaking it. He then turned the raccoon around. "You never should have stayed around this long."

The raccoon swung a punch that knocked the kitsune a few feet back. Branson smiled in triumph. Until the fox got up. Now, the expression on his face looked pure evil. It literally scared Branson into wanting to cry.

The kitsune laughed a little.

"Wrong move, bitch!"

He ripped the door off of a nearby open locker and held it in both hands. He cut his arm in the process. Branson looked terrified.

"I- I'm sorry Tails! I didn't mean it!" The kitsune still had the possessed look on his face. With seeing this, Branson ran around the corner and towards the door. As soon as he went to reach it, he was grabbed from the side. He looked in the direction of the grab to see Tails with a terribly evil look on his face, without the smile.

"Tails will love this." With that, he swung at Branson with his other hand, which contained the small metal locker door. It connected with the side of Branson's head, making him lose balance. Tails walked towards the now stumbling raccoon and smashed him over the head again, but this time in the face. Branson flew back onto his back, and looked up to see the enraged fox over him. He was bleeding from his forehead and nose, as well of his lip. He pleaded to the fox.

"Plea.. please Tails! I- I'm sorr-"

"TAILS will be proud that I did this for him. Just watch." Branson was confused.

"Tails? Wait, you are Tails! What are-"

And with that, the fox hit him in the face again, and again. And then he took the side of the door and hit the kid in the side of the head. From the sound it made, he could tell it cracked his skull. The fox smiled evilly again. "One of us needs to leave this place." He threw the locker door into the now dead raccoon's face and walked away, still showing that evil smile.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Tails, Amy, Kari, Arieal, and Sonic were standing in line at the Ice Cream Plus, waiting to be served. Kari looked up to the sky, noticing the grey clouds slowly rolling in. "Looks like it's gonna rain. Maybe in a few hours."

Sonic cringed. "Rain? Ahh… blast. Well no matter how fast it comes, I want my chili dog. And my shake." Tails chuckled.

"You and your food."

This is where all five of them started arguing over how food is Sonic's top priority. Free food anything in return. Or, almost.

A few minutes passed in time until a few cops and Antoine and Sally walked up to them. Sally's eyes were filled with sorrow and pity. Antoine was pissed, but kept his posture. Sonic looked at them.

"What do you need?" Sally blinked, causing more sorrow to fill her eyes. This worried the five in line.

She gestured to Sonic. "I need to speak to you… in private." The five in line stared for a minute before Sonic walked over to the four officials, who led him away from publicity. Arieal looked towards Amy.

"I wonder what happened?" The four just stared at each other, a little worry in their expressions. "She looked upset. Really sad."

Tails grabbed his head with one hand. "Ahh… my head." The other three looked at him.

"What's wrong, Tails?"

Tails looked back up at Amy, who had just asked him a question. "Nothing… but something is wrong… I can feel it." The other three looked on, confused.

About three minutes later, the two officers and three Freedom Fighters came back, with Sonic now looking worried and depressed. "Tails…" Everyone looked at Sonic, scared to death. Sonic sighed. "… come with us. There's been… a problem."

Tails looked on, a little scared. He then walked over to Sonic, who started to walk him towards Acorn Palace. The three female teens tried to follow, but Sally shot them a look that was a mix of sorrow and 'don't follow'. So the three stayed behind, worried sick.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Sally and Sonic seated themselves across from Tails. Sally was on the verge of crying, and this worried Tails. Something was _really_ wrong. The rest of the Freedom Fighters sat around Sonic and Sally, all of them except Antoine looking worried. Tails was speechless. Bunnie looked at him. "Tails, honey, we called ya here cause we found…" everyone moved uneasily. "...we found a kid dead. In the locker room at your school."

Tails' heart jumped. "What… what? What does this have to do with me?" At that moment Sally started to cry.

Bunnie lowered her head. "The weapon used was a locker door. And the fingerprints on tha locker were…" she seemed to lose her words right there. Antoine stood up.

"The locker door had your fingerprints on it."

Tails' heart stopped. Not literally, but enough to say so. His head exploded with emotion.

"Wh… WHAT? ME?" Antoine nodded, as did Sonic, Rotor, and Reave. Antoine glared at him.

"Yez, yours. Zis kid turned out to be a," he cleared his throat "Branson Zeelinger." Tails' head was now spinning.

Bronson Theelinger? His worst enemy? Oh, hell no. This had to be a frame. Rotor now spoke.

"Apparently, he came in thirty minutes after school to pick up some materials from his locker in the locker room." Tails jerked forward a little.

"But I was with Sonic three minutes after the bell rang!" Sonic nodded, a look of pure sadness in his expression.

"Yes, Tails, but… the fingerprints were yours. And the blood from the locker door was your blood."

Tails was lost for words.

Bunnie now straightened her back. "Ahm sorry sugah, but I'm afraid…" there was silence for about five seconds. She sighed. "we're gonna have tah banish you from Knothole."

Tails stared, mouth agape. He started to sweat. Banished… from Knothole? By himself? This was absurd. There is no way he could have been the one. He was with Sonic and his friends ever since school! He was just hoping that someone would say, 'YOU'VE BEEN PUNK'D!' But it never came. He stood up.

"Sonic! I was with you all day! You can't just let me get kicked out of Knothole! I didn't do it and you know it!" Everyone moved around uncomfortably. Sonic nodded.

"I know Tails, but… there's no other person that matches you're DNA."

Tails started to cry.

"SO THAT'S IT? YOU'RE JUST GOING TO LET ME LEAVE?"

**-- --**

**QUE:**_ Easier to Run _by Linkin Park

_-- --_

Sonic shook his head. "Tails, we are giving you food and supplies to last for a few weeks, because we know you didn't do it… but we can't help the fa-"

"JUST SHUT UP!" Everyone was taken back by Tails' sudden outburst of anger. "JUST SHUT THE HELL UP! YOU WON'T STICK UP FOR ME?" There was silence. Sonic opened his mouth to speak, but Tails beat him to it. "Fine. I'm gone. I don't know if I'll come back again." He turned around and ran out, with Sally and Sonic yelling for him to wait. But he ran. He ran down the stairs past a few people, all the way to the bottom. He ran out the door, into the streets where his friends were waiting for him, but he didn't see them and kept running, towards the nearest edge of the forest.

"Tails? Wait! Where are you going!" Kari's pleas didn't stop him. Soon enough, Sonic came running out of the building.

"Tails! Wait! I'm sorry!" he yelled after his orange furry friend. Or, used to be friend.

"NO! LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"

And with that, the fox ran. He ran out of the forest. No one tried to stop him. It was a lost cause.

* * *

And this is where the REAL story begins...

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

**OPENING THEME:** _Million Miles Away_ by The Offspring


	3. The Enemy

This chap is a little boring. But it needs to be posted. A few minor things have been fixed by dearest Wingless Rain.

THE ENEMY

**Chapter Theme:** _Me the Enemy_ by Magna-Fi

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

It had been four days since our friend Tails was banished from the glorious town of Knothole. Banished by his own friends, from his own home. By his hero. But, despite this fact, it was a beautiful day, the sun shining, only four or so small clouds in sight, birds flying around, and a slight breeze wavering through the air…

And here, on the ground in the valley about six miles from the Great Forest, lay Tails.

Asleep, on a rock. This rock, the night before, had been terribly and surprisingly comfortable, therefore convincing him to sleep there. Night had been warm, thanks in no small part to a recent rise of temperature. Three days of shifting rain and sun usually has that effect on the climate, he thought.

He had not thought to go too far, but he didn't know why. He didn't want to go back, not at all. In fact, it wasn't just 'all in his mind' that he didn't want to go back, but God had obviously made it a mission to make sure he didn't want to. He absolutely did not look back.

It was such a thing as being blinded by hate and anger for a short time, or over a period of a few days. In this kind of situation, that was usually the case. But Tails had better sense than that. It was more along the lines of being unfairly taken to mind, or comprehended, as being a murderer. To be blatant, it was simply bullshit.

He knew that he would only be exiled until they found that he had killed Branson. Then, he would be hunted down, and, despite everyone's liking towards him, put to execution. He knew he didn't do it, so that gave him a little hope. Everyone else knew that he didn't do it, too. But still, he thought of his attitude towards returning to Knothole as punishment towards them for not believing him.

And just out of sight, watching him closely, was his archetype. Waiting; for Tails to have a nightmare, fueled with hate, so that he could go on another death mission. But his conscious self never had a dream; he just slept, with no thought at all. Just a peaceful sleep. For the night staring into a blank, black screen, having no consciousness at any time… just sleep. This slightly angered the Shadow, due to the fact that he had nothing to accomplish but sit here and wait for Tails to want someone dead.

But, the truth was, Tails didn't want anyone dead. He would never want Sonic or any of his friends dead; he just wanted to not be a part of anything that the Freedom Fighters might do anymore. He wanted NOTHING to do with them. Nothing done to help him in exchange with no existence towards them was a fair deal with the small orange fox. But, never would he wish anyone was dead.

--

**QUE:** _Opticon_ by Orgy

--

In the distance, two swatbots could be seen heading in Tails' general direction. One was carrying an injection needle with some kind of green liquid in it. "Dr. Robotnik said the fox would be around here." The free handed one said in a robotic, one-tone voice.

"Affirmative. Search for the kid and alert me if you find him." The other said in the same kind of tone. So from there the two split up, going the two complete different directions that _weren't_ Tails'.

After about twenty minutes of searching, the swatbot with the needle found the small kitsune on a rock. So peaceful, but slightly strung out, did he look on this rock. He was obviously more comfortable than expected by anyone. He called Eggman with the communicator on his arm.

"Dr. Robotnik. We have found the subject. Shall we proceed to the lair?"

"Yes. Good job. Now hurry up and inject the raven!" The swatbot did as instructed.

So with that, he called his partner, and they both headed towards the lair. Tails, now, would be out for quite a while. He was in a deep sleep…

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Kari stared out the open window.

To cut to the point, because there is nothing else to mention but the landscape, there is no possible way that Tails could have done shit to kill anyone. Period.

But some things aren't fixable. What's done is done, at least until Tails got even smarter and invented a time machine.

But now that he was gone, it would be hard, due to the fact that the nearest junkyard that wasn't in Knothole was at least four or five miles away. Even then, he would need other things that weren't in the junkyard… right? But 4 days had passed… he could have traveled that far, right? After all, he could fly.

But at certain times, small details that made up one's anatomy didn't matter.

The thoroughness that the Lord contained was obviously too great for the inhabitants of Knothole to compensate. He apparently liked things clean, but as far as Kari was concerned, the son of a bitch had a dirty mind.

Did anything go according to plan?

Not that anyone knew of, yet. There had been many who thought that everything had gone according to plan, in favor of them. But in reality, they are ignorant, and they only assume. Of course, generic lifestyle says that eventually what was thought to be events gone according to plan comes back and bites them in the ass.

The layout of such things is a bitch.

She stared out the window still, looking over the trees that went on for a mile, in hope of finding Tails breaking the exile and returning home. But none such luck came, of course. By now, Tails had either been mauled by swatbots, or was far away from here.

But she refused to believe he was gone, just like any other person would when someone they loved had something terrible or stupid happen to them.

Aerial walked in the room. Upon seeing her best friend looking thoroughly depressed, she walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "He's not going to come back."

Kari just stared out the window still. Her statement was kind of obvious. Aerial sighed.

"The way he was talking…" Kari waved a hand in front of Aerial's face as she talked, thus showing her lack of interest or care in what she was saying.

"Shut up. I'm going to find him."

This had come up pretty quick, considering Aerial had only been in the room for about thirty seconds, and nothing had led up to this. On another note, Aerial was dumbstruck. "What… in the heck are you talking about?"

Kari grabbed some black gloves and a jacket from her dresser top and put them on. "Just what I said. I'm going to find Tails." She then walked over to the door, grabbed some heavy-utility (or so it looked as if) boots, and walked back over to the bed. Aerial sighed.

"You can't be serious." She walked over and sat on the bed next to Kari, a little nervous about her friend going out on her own to find her brother. The thought was absurd, especially since the recent issues concerning multiple swatbots being sighted around the Great Forest. Even more so was the thought of Kari getting captured.

But Arieal wasn't gong to follow Kari; that was stupid, in her opinion. But apparently, there was nothing to stop Kari from going now. Arieal didn't even want to try, because at the moment she felt lazy and lifeless. She had no feelings, she was just blank.

"Alright…. but Kari, be careful. I'm going to take a shower." She turned to walk to the door, and Kari stopped her.

"Here… take this; I don't want to get it dirty if I happened to encounter something." She handed Arieal necklace- made by Tails by some titanium, silver, and an amethyst they found way back before Sonic found them. Arieal stared for a minute.

"Sure."

The necklace had Kari's favorite ever since Tails gave it to her. It was a symbol of their relationship, and it meant a lot to her. If it were to break, she would get angry. Really angry, and sad. Probably go into a deep depression, from Arieal's point of view. Everybody has something that they hold dear- and this necklace just happened to be Kari's.

Arieal thought for a minute, put it in the second drawer of her dresser, and walked into the bathroom. Kari stared after her, trying to figure out her lack of consciousness for her leaving at the moment, but then realized she had to get out before everyone came downstairs for lunch. She grabbed her backpack off the dresser and headed towards the door. She opened it, turned towards the stairs and ran till she reached them. Once she hit them, she ran all the way down (four levels, because the palace was pretty big) and continued towards the front door. It was then she realized she should take some sort of refreshments- and the kitchen should be full. But Kari wasn't a normal one; she knew a way around the security, or so it was called. She walked into the kitchen, where a few chefs were preparing for lunch. She hid behind a table, out of their sight, and waited.

After about ten or so minutes the chefs went to inform people of the 'Thirty Minutes Until Lunch', she darted towards the counter and leapt over it. Making her way to the refrigerator took no time at all.

She opened it, grabbed a few drinks and food, stuffed them in her pack, and took off. She left through the first door she came to. The only one who had seen her exit was Antoine, who called after her, but to no avail.

No shit.

She turned right and went the same way Tails went.

After about four minutes of walking in a straight line, she slowed down a bit and looked around. After doing this for twenty seconds and finding nothing, she called Tails' name.

Nothing.

"Dang it, Tails… where are you?" Of course, there was no answer, for she was only talking to herself.

She walked on a little more, and still found nothing. She was getting really fed up, but she had only been there an estimated ten minutes. Quite obviously, she had a short temper. She just hated waiting for things.

She sat down against a tree and opened up her backpack. Grabbing a drink and a pack of pop-tarts from it, she sighed.

"Tails, why won't you come back?" As she said this, she heard a twitch to her left. "What…" she stood up to go investigate, and that was the last thing she would do on her own for some time now.


	4. Intermission

_A flash of sudden light._

'What in the…'

_The eyes focus, enabling him to see around the room._

"What in the hell?"

_A rumbling laugh._

"So, Tails. You are awake."

The fox shuddered. He knew that voice. Robotnik.

"Robotnik? What am I doing here?" He looked at his hands and feet and realized he was chained down. He panicked slightly.

Robotnik laughed. "Now now, Tails, don't get so excited. Are you feeling and pain?"

The kitsune thought for a minute and realized he felt barely any different.

"No…"

"GOOD! Then it is complete."

Tails shuddered at the thought of 'it' being complete. "What? What is complete? What did you do to me?" Robotnik was about to speak, but Tails had one more question.

"How long have I been here?"

Robotnik smiled. He walked over to a control panel. "Well… the experiment. That's what is complete."

Tails stared at him intently. "What experiment?"

Robotnik continued. "I have 'upgraded' you."

Tails didn't even speak. Robotnik pushed a button, and Tails was released from the cuffs on the metal bed.

"And you…." There was a momentary silence. "You have been here for a year and 9 months."

Tails' heart sunk a bit.

"What… what?"

Robotnik walked over to the small fox and nodded towards him. "Stand up." Tails did so, but was partly absent minded as to how long he had been there. "You have been in a coma for most of that year and nine months. Now, jerk your arm, like you are summoning some kind of magic."

Tails was a little confused as to what the old man meant, but slightly jerked his arm, as if there to be a spasm in it.

He felt something shift inside of his arm. What came out of his wrist changed his life forever.


	5. The Encounter

Here's where the fun begins.

THE ENCOUNTER

**Chapter Theme**: _Nowhere to Go_ by Mushroomhead 

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Thank you, come again!" said the clerk as he handed Arieal her Gatorade bottle. The Freedom Fighter nodded with a smile and turned to walk out. She exited the small store and entered the streets of the town of Oak. This town was about twenty miles southwest of Knothole, and was pretty peaceful, besides the occasional wannabe thugs that showed up in 'gangs' for the sole purpose to get laid and sell drugs. The town was about two miles in radius, or 2.3 square miles, whichever proportion of measurement you may prefer, and had a decent population. There weren't too many people, as the same for lack thereof, but there was enough business and residency all-around to satisfy someone searching for a new, decent, low-priced but not cheap, home.

She took a right turn and immediately met with Amy, who had posted up on the wall while Arieal got refreshments from the store. She was messing with her planner when Arieal walked up to her. "Hey, you ready?"

Amy looked up. "Yeah." She put her planner away, but not without turning it off, and started walking.

The two had been sent on an assignment; which called for transportation to Oak, and to lock up a group of thugs- The Blood- that had murdered the mayor of Flint. Apparently, according to the group of witnesses that came to Knothole for help, the gang had transported to Oak.

The two Freedom Fighters were to stay in Oak until the gang was behind bars, no exceptions. So far, they had been there two days, and no sign of the thugs. This slightly angered the two, for they both had better things to do. Especially with the war going on.

Ahh, the war.

- -

**QUE:** _Tentative_ by System of a Down

--

About eight years ago, four short years after the exile of the Freedom Fighters' beloved friend, Tails, Knothole was attacked. The threat was eliminated in a matter of ten minutes. But the leader of the assault, apparently one of Robotnik's majors, had fled within the first three minutes of the attack. Nobody knew that it had happened in that time limit for sure, but they knew he had fled. The people in Knothole suspect that he did this on purpose, and he wasn't meaning to accomplish anything extremely important. But they were ignorant, and lack of minds...

Throughout the rest of the time up to now, nothing had happened except slight changes in climate, a few buildings here and there throughout the planet torn down, and small waves of swatbots that attacked Knothole in very small spurts; but not under the order of the usual leader, Robotnik. But nobody knew this. There was something exceptionally different, and they had a partial idea of what had happened. But as stated earlier, no one knows what they think they know, do they?

Since four years ago, Robotnik had not been around; apparently and suspected to be in hiding. There had been no signs of his presence (except the swatbots), and nothing potentially mastermind had happened.

And Tails...

No one had seen shit for Tails since the exact day that he was kicked out. But of course, he said he didn't care for them anymore on his way out- or so his tone of voice towards Sonic implied.

Everyone missed him dearly. They all cared for and loved him- at least all the higher-ups. In fact, in case he may ever return to the town he once loved, the Freedom Fighters made a uniform especially for him- right around the time Arieal and Amy joined. But there was nothing they could do to stop the justice from taking its toll again. Their emotions and guilt towards him was amplified by twenty times once they found out that it wasn't _he_ who had killed, though.

He looked exactly like Tails, only he was much... darker. The look in his eye was that of pure evil- something Tails wasn't capable of. As for looks, his fur was slightly darker, and the blue in the eyes was noticeably darker. Whenever he was spotted during nightfall and night itself, they flashed light red when light hit them. He was also about ten inches taller than Tails.

So much did it seem to be Tails, they figured it was a twin. But the clone was only sighted a total of 20 times throughout twelve years, clouding his image over with confusion.

But over the years, the loved Kitsune's image slowly faded, not to mere image, in fact it _barely_ faded; but the feeling and knowledge of it was known by almost everyone. The attention, when the kitsune came to mind, was more on the clone. He was especially not forgotten by his friends and sister.

But as much as everyone would like to, for apologizing and guilt's sake, no one knew where he was...

And Kari...

No one had seen Kari for a while, either. She had left four days after Tails did, and she didn't come back. No one knew what to think of it- they think she might have found Tails and stayed with him, knowing he wasn't to return to Knothole. But then some thought she was captured or killed by Robotnik. No one knew...

The two women walked down the street with a generic stride, instead of the usual walking formation they had to assume during Freedom Fighter-related stuff. It felt good to walk like normal people once again. They just strolled along, no intention in finding something to do. There really was nothing to do but wait for the thugs, or go to a bar, or go shopping, but the thugs were nowhere around; they didn't feel like getting hit on; and shopping wasn't really a thing they liked to do.

It wasn't so much of the 'how', 'what', 'who', or 'where'- it was more of the 'when' they saw him.

This, because it had been twelve years- long enough for the majority of their opinion. No, it _was_ their opinion. But apparently not his.

It had been an estimated seven minutes after the small store. Aerial and Amy had turned down an alley, just for the hell of it. The alley split into four different directions; one down at the end of the current alley, another across from that, one a little ahead of them to their to their right, and one coming up on their left. When they passed this, they noticed a group of people way at the end. One of them were shouting, and boy did he sound pissed.

Curious, the two women turned down the alley, inching closer to the others. Upon inspection, it looked like they were at a dead end of the alley. It was rounded and larger than the alley itself.

Amy and Arieal found two more alleys to their left and right; Amy went right, and Arieal left. The two peeked around the corner, so that they would not be spotted, but still be able to see the current situation.

The first group they saw was that of four chinchillas, each with black leather jackets and blue jeans. The second was that of two; a fox, and something that resembled a hedgehog. Amy knew it was an echidna, but Arieal had never seen the like. One of the chinchillas spoke.

--

**QUE**: _Hey, Loser_ by Magna-Fi 

--

"That doesn't matter. You pay, because you stole it."

The echidna lowered his head a little. "You know, no one stole shit. If you didn't leave shit laying around, you wouldn't get it taken."

Another chinchilla spoke. "It wasn't laying around! It was in the hole in the wall by the window!"

"Then don't put it by the window, dumbass. Besides, that's nowhere to hide a drug like that anyways." the fox said blatantly.

Amy and Arieal listened a little closer upon that sentence. Drugs? Ok, so now they had a drug bust. And The Blood, all in one place!

One of the chinchillas got into a slight fighting position. "So, you're not gonna give us our money?"

The fox slouched a little, apparently totally relaxed. "Your money? There's money involved?"

This did it in for the chinchilla in fighting stance. He lunged at the fox, but to no avail. The fox dodged to his right, letting his back face the two women. His tails waved around before settling slightly in the air. That's when it hit them. Two tails!

The fox threw a punch, immediately followed by an elbow, which sent the chinchilla stumbling back into the echidna. The red hedgehog-look-alike grabbed the back of the chinchilla's shirt and threw him backwards into the wall.

By the look of it, this echidna was strong.

The action committed by the two provoked the others to gang up on them. They reached into their pockets and grabbed their handguns. When he noticed this, Tails jerked his right arm a little, and a blade extruded. The two women stood dumbfounded.

One chinchilla swung a punch at the fox after failing to shoot him, but Tails sidestepped, landed a back chop to his neck with his left hand, and kicked him in the back. He then ran over to the chinchilla, who was now bent over from the kick, picked him up, and punched him with his left. Then, he shoved the blade of his right arm completely through the chinchilla's abdomen area. He removed the blade, and the now dead animal fell to the ground. He turned around to find another Blood's fist connecting with his nose, sending him back a little. The guy shot at him, but somehow Tails flipped over it. This made the gang member run at him. While the dude ran at him, he ducked, making the guy start to trip as he tried to stop. He stopped a little too much, for he started to fly over Tails. As he did, Tails turned onto his back and thrusted the blade through the guy's stomach as he got directly adjacent to Tails. Tails let his arm fall to the ground and pushed the body off of the blade. He stood up and turned towards the other chinchilla and his friend, who was getting shot at by the thug. The fox ran at the gangster, but the guy caught sight of this, and pulled two shots off- enough for the echidna to land a punch to the chinchilla's face, sending him back into the far wall. "Don't lose one focus, or the other will nail you in the ass." He then ran over to the thug and picked his head up, smashing it at least six times into the wall. He then turned the head to face his, and sent a fatal swing to the face.

He looked over to Tails, knowing the job was done. Tails was standing about ten feet back from him, holding his shoulder. The echidna walked over to the fox and moved his hand. Two bullet wounds, with the bullets still in them, in his right shoulder. The fox looked at him. "Dammit, Knuckles, that bitch nailed a good one. We better get this shit out, or the skin will grow back over them."

The echidna nodded. "Right. Let's get outta here."

"TAILS!" They turned and noticed two females running at them.

"Oh... shit! GO!" The fox ran towards the two and jumped onto the wall beside Arieal, jumping over them and continuing on his way. Knuckles did the same.

"What..? Tails?" Amy frowned at the fact that Tails seemed intent on not seeing them. The reason it confused her so much is because she figured he'd want to have seen them after all these years. But something told her that he didn't have that big of an interest- she didn't know what.

"Wait! Come on, Amy!" The pale fox started chasing after the two, who had rounded the corner now. The two females chased after them, and turned left when they got to the main road.

They followed the targets for about thirty minutes, until reaching a town that looked like the ghetto.

Tails grabbed Knuckles and stopped, twisting his two tails. He then let them go, giving him a large blast in another direction, and after flying for a few seconds, were out of sight. The two females didn't know where they went.

"DAMMIT!" Arieal cursed.

Amy held her head. "Why was he running away from us?" The two thought for a minute, and decided that it was the uniforms, and the situation in which they saw them. Then they continued on their way, in the direction that the echidna and long lost fox had gone.


	6. The Confrontation

Yea… not too much interest from other authors on the site, but I don't exactly write for you guys (no offense). Yea… I got lazy with the last chapter. This chapter is… barely important. Expect this in the future.

* * *

Arieal looked at the guy on the moped with deep annoyance. She had been trying to get information from him for twenty minutes, if not more, and the dumbass didn't get it. The ignorance clearly inhabited by the mouse was a little too ignorant for our dearest. "I don't care what your name is, you dumb rodent! Have you seen an orange fox with two Tails, anywhere around this area!?" She about had enough. People these days weren't too bright. Then again… people were never too bright…

"An orange… fox…" the mouse looked at his handles, then back to Arieal. "My name is Greg, what's yours?" The fox got red in the face and started to breathe heavily, but no one really noticed. The rodent laughed. "Nope. Ain't seen the likes." He kicked up his kickstand and drove away. Amy and Arieal both knew he was lying, but they didn't like him anyways.

Amy frowned. "Ok… there's gotta be SOMEONE who knows him." Truth is, there's gotta be nothing. Nothing will show itself because one wants it to. That's not the way things were planned out. It's all in the mind. Arieal nodded and looked around.

--

**QUE**: _Superhero Girl_ by Eve 6 

--

The people were craggy, some of them ugly, and very... ghetto. The two had their own opinions, but Amy thought the hyena she had her eyes on was… fabulous. That and nothing less. If it proved to be less, she wouldn't have absent mindedly swished her hips as she walked up to him.

"Hey... have you um..." Amy looked at the hyena's body in complete trance. "Have you seen an orange fox with... two tails?" The look on her face as she studied him was blank. Just… blank. Kinda funny the way I see it in my head.

The hyena turned to look at her, and stood dead-eyed. He looked her up and down- sexy. Stunning. Simply fabulous. Amy caught this gaze and purposely shifted her weight to her right foot. After a few more moments of staring, he looked at her, in the eye.

Beautiful.

He let out what sounded like the beginning of a 'yeah', but stopped. He looked at her again, then continued.

"You mean Miles?"

The Arieal and Amy, who was immediately distracted from the heaven before her, stood straight up in knowing the guy had somewhat of a knowledge of Tails' whereabouts. Aerial was by Amy's side in about… immediately.

"Ye- yeah! That's him!"

The hyena laughed. They had Freedom Fighter suits on... and they were looking for a mercenary of sorts. "Yeah. He's part of our rival band."

"Rival band? Wait… You have a band?"

The hyena smiled. "Yeah. It's called Are In Debt. But that seems to be unimportant at the moment. But just in case…" he reached out and handed a small sheet of paper to Amy. She looked at it- it held a date, time, place, and a few bands. 'Thermos-Induced Indulgence', 'Are In Debt', 'Everblaze and the Trans-Global Intercourse', 'Another Know It All', and 'Numb Body, Closer', were the five names, in their own signature fonts. "Now, you want to see the mer-… fox?"

The two girls nodded. Amy snickered.

"Merfox?" The two looked at each other to show that inside, they were laughing their asses off, but weren't in real life to show politeness. The hyena turned around and rolled his eyes in a dreary fashion.

"Ok, follow me. By the way, name's Hyphen. Hyphen Aytid."

The women did as they were told and started to follow the hyena, which walked in a totally different direction than he was going upon the encounter. Amy moved a little closer to him. 'Hyphenated? Cool name, considering that's probably not what the parents meant to call him.'

He noticed Amy approaching him. He looked at her. "It appears you are single."

Amy was taken aback by the sudden, but true all in all, comment. "What- yeah… yes I am. How did you guess?" 'This guy is really fine right now… I could down him in a heartbeat. Unless… he didn't want to.' She smiled, as did Hyphen, but not before looking at her with a confused face. Arieal just listened and followed.

"I know these things. The way someone walks when they approach you, the look in their eyes…." There was a long pause, creating confusion in the two girls. "Uh… yea. You're friend is the same way."

Arieal looked up at him.

"You mean Tails?"

The hyena laughed. "Tails? That's what you call him?" The young animal laughed some more. This puzzled the two women. "Yeah, him. He tends to know too. But that's why he's still single… as I am." He shot a mildly seductive glance at Amy, making her lower her head and look a little to the right.

"So… you two have been single… on purpose? Why?"

"Long story. Not worth telling." The hyena's answer was quick, simple, and beautiful. Amy frowned as they turned the corner.

'Not worth telling? What in the hell is he talking about? He doesn't want a girlfriend? Hell, I could prove him wrong.' "Come on. Tell me."

The hyena looked at her with a frown as she looked ahead of her. "Well… most of the girls that seem to have something for me tend to want to… have sex… the first time they see me."

Arieal cringed. 'Oh my god, I think Amy just got owned by her own thoughts.'

The hyena looked back at Arieal and nodded. This confused, and created an assumption, in the pale fox's mind. Amy's face turned a velvety red. She looked at him, slightly terrified. Hyphen leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"It's ok… sounds like you are an exception." He lied. He continued forward as she slowed down. She quickly ran back up to him and got close to his ear.

"Wait, how did you know?" the hyena looked back at her as they turned another corner.

"The look in your eyes. The way you approached me. The way you talk. You're just screaming my name in your head. Guarantee if you feel the same way around Miles, he'll point it out to you. No big deal. Like I said, you seem to have a few other intentions."

Amy just stared at him, still blushing. No one said anything until they came up by a small door in the back of an alley, where nothing was to be seen but alleys cutting into other alleys- not actual streets, just like a maze. They could quite clearly hear music coming from the door. It sounded like alternative music- Amy's dislike. "Oh, and just to be safe... your friend... he doesn't like authorities. He has something... against Freedom Fighters."

--

**QUE**: _Injection_ by Rise Against

--

The two girls looked at each other, totally surprised, but they both knew that in detail, they shouldn't be. What happened back when... well, there's a reason to not like their kind, huh?

Hyphen opened the door, letting the music get louder. He entered, with the two women following.

"The trail of crumbs you left somehow got lost along the way... if you never meant to leave, then you only had to stay..."

The three turned the corner and saw four people about twenty feet away, facing a little towards the three, but to their left. Tails was holding a microphone, singing, with a silver guitar hanging from his shoulders behind him; the previously seen echidna was playing a bass; another purple echidna with a red guitar; and a young-looking light grey fox on drums.

"And the memories that haunt us, are CHERISHED just the same... as the ones that lead us closer to the sky... no matter how grey... as I fall... through the clouds... reaching, SCREAMING!!"

Amy cringed at the nasty alternative-like scream-similar voice. Arieal just stared on. She was enjoying the song. Tails whipped the guitar around to his front side and hit a note with incredible precision. Hyphen leaned against the wall and nodded his head to the beat. He started singing with Tails.

"GIMME THE DRUG! KEEP ME ALIVE! GIVE ME WHAT'S LEFT OF MY LIFE... DON'T LET ME GO, WHOAWHOOOOAAAHOA... PULL THIS PLUG! LET ME BREATHE! ON MY OWN I'M FINALLY FREE! DON'T LET ME GOOOOO..."

Arieal looked at the echidna, which was head banging as he played. The other purple echidna was playing what seemed to be the main, high-pitched riff. She showed no signs of strain at all, and Arieal thought she was pretty compared to all the other people. She wasn't ugly, but Arieal didn't exactly have a lesbian side.

Amy wasn't as miserable as she let on to be. She hated that kind of music, but she seemed to be enjoying this. Probably because this was Tails- and that her crush liked it.

Aerial was the kind for measuring. She was skilled at this subject, too. That being said, she predicted the building they were in had about 46 feet to the ceiling, and was a predicted 16 meters wide and 21 meters long. It was perfect for a band to waste it's time in. In the middle of the right wall there was a sink filled with dishes, apparently washed using that sink. Upon inspection the female kitsune noticed there were various wrappers scattered in very few locations throughout the whole area and so little were there it barely mattered. On the other end of the building, next to where they were playing, was a large rack with a bass guitar and three electrics, and next to it was a tub or some worth which seemed to be holding a large amount of drum equipment.

"GUIDE ME, THROUGH UNCHARTERED WATERS! BEFORE WE LOSE OUR WAY AGAIN! WILL YOU, BE MY COMPASS! UNTIL FOREVER, UNTILL FOREVER ENDS-"

The red echidna interrupted the kitsune. "Knees are weak... hands are shaking... I can't breathe so-"

"GIMME THE DRUG! KEEP ME ALIVE! GIMME WHAT'S LEFT OF MY LIFE!"

He continued the chorus, until he started a new chorus. At the same time he was playing his guitar.

"DON'T LET ME GO!"

Miles stopped at the word 'Go' and started to sing with various, synchronizing tones that sounded melodic together, such and spaghetti and tomato sauce for an evening dinner at an Italian restaurant. Every member- the one which of is well known, the crimson echidna, the other nicely braided purple echidna, and the young-looking light-grey fox. They let their notes ring, and Arieal and Amy started to run to Tails, but were stopped by Hyphen's unexpected arm. He looked at them and shook his head. The four musicians put their stuff on their stands and what not, and the hyena put his arm down and nodded. The two girls ran straight at Tails. 'Jesus… this is gonna suck.'

Tails nodded at the other three while putting his guitar on the rack. "Alright. Where we going for food?"

Knuckles- or so the ladies thought was his name- looked up after placing his bass upon the rack. "Let's try the Bra... Miles?"

Upon mentioning his name, Miles was damn near tackled to the ground by Arieal.

"TAILS! OHMYGODHOWAREYOU!?"

Miles gently pushed her off of him in attempt not to be rude, despite the fact he wanted to just throw her across the building.

"Miles. My name is Miles."

Or quite possibly simply smash her head in with his guitar.

He looked at Arieal with piercing eyes, scaring her and Amy a bit. "And I'm doing fine. Or, was until now."

Ignoring what he just said, Amy hugged him gently. She didn't hold on long after taking in the look he gave her a few seconds ago. He just stood there.

"Oh my god we haven't seen you in so long! How have you been?"

Tails glanced at them with a deathly look before turning back to his guitar rack. He grabbed a pick bag from on top of the thing. Hyphen cringed very slightly. He could sense this wasn't gonna be a long conversation, for the sake of her brain's throne being thrown across the room, along with what rested on top of it.

"I've been... getting by. I've learned from experience that nothing is easy in life. Especially finding a place to live."

Miles gave the two an almost deadly look. Arieal got the hint. There was something in him that still didn't seem to come out, as always. But she could sense it- he wasn't interested in the two, nor had it seemed like he had for an eternity.

"Miles!" Tails turned to see Hyphen, still standing by the door.

"Hyph!" He threw his pick bag down and ran over to the grey hyena. He met Hyphen with a high-five.

"How in the hell have you been? Ready for that show Thursday?"

Hyphen pretended to wipe sweat off of his forehead. "With all the practice we've had, we don't need to practice for a year or two. Hell I don't know why we practiced in the first place! Dumb bitches kept messing up, kinda figures that they were just trying to piss me off." They both laughed a little. "Then Jake takes his drumsticks when Grey isn't looking, puts distilled water and salt on it, and breaks it over Grey's head- and it sounded like a tin can hitting the ground!" they laughed really hard now. "CRAH!" The hyena screamed with a great voice. They seemed like they were gonna bust a gut.

Amy looked at them. 'One, that wasn't funny...' She quickly displaced the thought as an inside joke. 'Two, how can two people from separate bands get along like that?'

Hyphen looked at Tails intently. "You really don't like authorities do you?" he whispered.

"No... It's the ones that disown me that I can't stand the most." He looked towards the two women who were obviously straining to hear what he was saying. Amy was staring at Hyphen.

No shit?

Hyphen looked at them intently, with a hint of sadness. "_They_ are the ones who threw you out?"

Tails frowned deeper. "No. They are the best friends in the world who did absolutely nothing to try and protest." He looked at Hyphen with serious eyes. "You should have seen their pitiful little faces when I ran out of that palace. Insensitive, confused, and lost. Barely a care in the world." He started to walk back towards his guitar, veering as far as possible from the two females he had been blessed with the chance to see. "Or at least not that I could see. I have NO desire to have anything to do with them."

He was walking and about to go out the back door when something hit him. He turned his head to look at the girls and stopped in his tracks. He stared at the door in front of him.

"Where is sis?"

He looked sideways at the wall over his shoulder. The two women looked at him, wondering if he was talking to them. Arieal soon saw that he was focused on her from the corner of his eyes.

"Oh Kari? We-"

"No. I'm talking about Thomas the Tank Engine." He looked at her with sarcastic and scorching eyes.

She cringed at his snapping sarcasm and continued.

"We... we can't find her."

Confusion.

Silence.

Anger.

Tails turned around, ran at her and picked her up by the collar. He showed no strain in lifting her just above his head.

"WHAT did you just say?"

Arieal choked to speak. But it wasn't all that hard, she soon found.

"She ran away looking for you! She just up and left with barely any food or clothing!"

Miles' eyes went from a burning stare to a sorrowful, sad look. He abruptly and carelessly dropped Arieal to her feet, whilst she stumbled for a split second to stay upright.

"She... she's gone? You haven't seen her?"

Arieal was trying to ignore how rude he had become and how close she felt to dying. "She... left four days after you ran off."

Tails whipped around and was in her face in almost a second and a half.

"I. Did. Not. Run. Off."

Amy just stared blankly in horror at Miles' attitude. Hyphen had somewhat of a sad expression on his face, and the rest of Tails' band simply didn't care, although watching with great amusement. Amy was the only one who wasn't expecting it.

Arieal was about to cry. "I'm... I'm sorry. Four days after you-"

"Got HACKEY-SACKED out of Knothole by the only people who were ever nice to me. The only ones who ever meant well." He turned around and started walking away. "The only ones who I don't feel sorry for in this world." He grabbed two small leather gloves and put them on, struggling slightly. They were barely big enough, and they were perfectly in sync with his skin. His hands were slender, about average size, and almost skinny. He looked in the echidnas' direction. The look told Knuckles that he wanted the two gone before he returned. "I'm gonna get some food. Be back in twenty." With that he swiftly moved towards the door and left.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Tails casually walked down the street with an aggressively annoyed look on his face. 'And if I wanted to see them I would have fought my way back into Knothole. It's that simple, people just don't compensate the details." He looked down the street for any gangsters he might disrupt. None in sight, but still the paranoia of being watched filled his every limb like that of kerosene in a Vietnam fire.

He continued on, now with more of a hop to his walk, in search of a nice taco restaurant, preferably Civil-Mex. This thought was interrupted when he thought back- Knuckles was about to say Banche's. He looked around at all the people.

--

**QUE:** _Becoming Cold _by Mushroomhead

--

They knew what was going on around them. They were aware of everything that could obstruct what they were doing. Nothing got past these thug-like civilians' eyes. But they all had one major flaw.

Lack of knowledge in important aspects of life- especially of the kind they live.

Doesn't make sense? Well… you jus' gotsa lotta thinking to do… if you truly care.

Common sense. No one had it.

Detail. They only focused in on it if it was, to their knowing, in spite or favor of themselves.

Truth. No one took the time to find it.

Conspiracy. Why waste time with one? This answer remains unknown, but people apparently got off on thinking them up.

Life. It's just a game, dammit.

No one appreciated why they were here, or so it seemed through Tails' eyes. No doubt these people were tough and very sharp-eyed to everything- 'but the thing that is reality seems to be an invisible wall that separates them from the ultimate path they could follow, but when the wall knocks them off their asses they have no fucking clue what the hell they keep bumping into.' That's the way the worn-down kitsune saw it, anyways.

Everyone was their own worst enemy- which proved to be amusing at some times. Every time a conflict, internal or external, showed itself, they would get confused. And this usually resulted in a social, mental, or overall breakdown. To put it into a more un-seemingly complex phrase, they would fuck themselves over. That's because thinking was an apparent burden/annoyance. This decision being made, their actions didn't live up to their IQ, which wasn't too much above or below average anyways.

But despite that, in favor of being fucked over, no one played their cards right. They make a wrong move; lose the game, and the Sorry! board snaps shut, right on them- crushing them like the little insects they are. But even Miles didn't know what cards to play- him, like some of the rest, were just lucky. Or else he was blindly kicking the game's ass.

To him, this city was more of a home than a hell. The anger he had kept plastic-bagged inside of him could slip seal when someone wanted a fight, which released some of the worldly problem cure substance they call 'anger' from his body. But still, and as always, to no avail. He was always faced with people who interfere with his band, or him, or anything that had remotely anything to do with him, and would from time to time be set to dispose of the targets.

He was a murderer.

This thought tore at him. He never, in his obscure early days, wanted to even do so much as TOUCH anyone in a malevolent way besides Robotnik. But now, he simply gave no fuck.

But the reasons he wasn't locked up for it were simple. One, he worked in the only decent mechanics shop in the city. And he was the top mechanic, due to his extensive, 'Kyle Bisping ego-sized' knowledge of machines. He kept that part of the city up and going. That was one major reason. Two, there were barely authorities around. The authorities that were around were the equivalent of everyone else in Flint, or to put it more simply, didn't care much. It had been like this since the mayor was murdered by the gang Miles and Knuckles disposed of earlier. No… wait, it had been like that for as long as Miles could remember. But when the mayor died, it just got worse. There was never really a government in or connected to the city, and the President didn't give two shits for the town- it was too far southwest to fuck with.

Other than that, Miles usually spent most of his time eating, sleeping, playing guitar, killing, working in the shop, and doing gigs throughout Flint. This, because getting from one city to another is time consuming. His life was boring, in his opinion. He didn't give a shit about anyone.

But, back then…

Within the first five years of his exile, he would constantly think about how much he missed his sister, and his friends. And most of all, his hero- Sonic. Oh, God how he missed them. It was a dying flame, vaguely fueled. But over the years, he thought more and more of how he was blamed for something he had no idea had happened, and how no one tried to stop it. After about seven years, he stopped caring what happened to his old life, or anything that had anything to do with it. Even Sonic.

He had also had something against Robotnik as well. If it wasn't for him, the exile would have been fine, better- but as he saw things now, less colorful. Robotnik made him what he was- his experiments and protests to normality, all focused on Miles. He was used for a weapon. Until, of course, he escaped. Or should we say… released. Since then, no one had heard of Robotnik, and barely any Swat-Bots had been detected- the ones that were looked abandoned. But still, Miles wasn't too pleased with the fat ass.

And now that the two Freedom Fighters showed up, he had developed somewhat of an ear-splitting headache, and a desperate need for someone to say 'it'd be nice to have them assassinated'. But Hyphen had showed them to him- they must have talked some- they must have known to watch out for Miles' hate for them. That was a small, plankton sized fucking step in part of the right direction.

That was good enough for Miles. He just hoped that by the time he got back, Knuckles had gotten rid of them. It would help his bowels to not get tangled after he ate.


	7. Reminiscing

Recent events have slowed this story's progress quite a mouthful in the past few months, and I'm surprised I'm not tired of it yet. Half the little plot things I had planned are forgotten, but the main point, of course, I can remember. Just to say, it's still a planned… sixty chapters or so.

I got an email from a guy with a name like Speedpig, but I know that's not it, it's just the song I was just listening to. He said I need to 'hold out on the plot more'. Well… -gets on top of the plot and holds out a lollipop-

There. Now I'm holding out a LOLLIPOP on the plot. That work?

Anyways… this chapter is just basically about how the people met. The chapter theme is appropriately picked, because the song is about friends.

REMINISCING

**Chapter Theme:** _At the End of August _by 36 Crazyfists

**-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --**

Knuckles, Hyphen, and the grey fox, soon known as Liatra, were playing Poker on a small table in the garage with Amy, the purple female echidna, and Arieal watching, and talking at the same time, since the whole reason the girls came to Flint had been taken care of. It seemed the renegades didn't care too much for the fact that the Freedom Fighters had not left. Or that Miles was taking at least forty-five minutes; which is a long time for him. And he always went to one of three places, so anyone could go fetch him. Even then, he usually took the long way home, which left him pretty much pointless to try to catch up with, unless you just like to waste energy.

Amy and Arieal could still not get over the way Miles had acted when they came around. The hate that he felt for them seemed to extrude from his body in an intimating aura-intimating in a negative way. It seemed as though they never knew each other; strangers, perhaps.

It made Arieal think back- back to the 'ClaN', as they would call themselves. Arieal, Miles, Kari, and Amy, all in a little bundle of dynamite fun and happiness; supposedly strung together like dynamite cartridges. Those good old days when flicking corn at each other was the shit. The days when the girls would stick up for Tails when all the other kids bullied him.

The days when Tails…

And, there leads back to the present. Any questions?

It came upon Amy in such a manner as this:  
She couldn't help but talk to his friends about it. Come to find out none of them really liked authorities of any kind, but had respect- a lot more respect- for them than Miles did. They didn't seem to have any kind of problems with talking freely and out in the wide, vast open about things, either. It seemed they weren't too worried about the bite of consequence, which really put everyone in a better mood. To be quite frank, they pretty friendly.

They talked quite a bit about the band, too. Another Know It All was their name, which Hyphen pointed out. Apparently, the band was Miles' life. "Without Another Know It All, Miles Prower wouldn't have a story. A pamphlet maybe, but not the whole book." as stated by Liatra.

Knuckles agreed with "the band is his life. It's his aorta; it's what he is. It keeps him alive."

The group also had a few interesting talks about… life, in general. What fun, to just sit and waste precious breath that you could lose by incorrectly swallowing a Life Saver, on something as plain and obvious as life. Ah, life after High School.

It was obvious that Knuckles and Sora, as she came to be known, were dating. Knuckles said it had been about four years since they started dating, after Knuckles and she met at a competition made for bands that wanted to get up and out… or up and 'outer'- CPAK's. She was in a band called Claimed Authority, where she was the vocalist… of sorts. She majored in screaming, which was rare for a female. It didn't prove to stop her, though. She proved a promising career for five years- since she heard her first band at CPAK's. She was just 15 when she and a group of friends started it, naming the band after her guitarist's dad, who claimed to have once been a Freedom Fighter. They became unnerved of attention throughout Oak, which is where they originated. But, the attention wasn't all too good, for they were shunned by many as evil (for the screaming). So, they all relocated to Flint at 17/18 years of age and became quickly a favorite.  
A few years passed, and Sora beheld that of some kind of disinterest for the band. Her last show was at CPAK's. To up the ante, the legends Hammered, who she heard the first time she went to CPAK's, were headlining- and therefore she made DAMN sure she did her best.  
But shortly before the end of her last song, by the time she got to the line "don't let the lights turn out", her voice had pretty much gave out. She blamed it on her not using skill, but all of her emotions, in her screaming; apparently because she had been wanting out of the band for a long time, but as living in Flint goes, had nothing better to do.  
But shortly after her little incident, she met up with Knuckles backstage, whose band was playing next. He complimented her on her screaming style, and she decided to buy a small demo of some of his band's earlier songs, just to be nice. From there, they parted. The next day she decided it best for her throat to leave Claimed Authority.

A few months later, after two or three more twenty second meetings here and there, they met up again, this time not at a show. It was at a restaurant, where Knuckles, Tails, and Liatra informed her that Justin Jiabnetaro, Another Know It All's backup guitarist, had died in a fatal car wreck 13 days earlier. The funeral was the next day, and out of pure respect (and what she now calls lust for Knux) she offered to go to it. After some intense staring, the trio agreed.  
After the funeral, she decided to start hanging out with them, going to their little garage every day to listen to them, and eventually hooking up with Knuckles. Upon hanging out with them frequently, she started to more liken the feel of a guitar, and politely asked for assistance. After quite some time of Miles' teachings, and some of Knuckles' bass techniques, she decided to officially try to take place as backup guitarist for AKIA. Well… she's in it now, so it obviously worked. And she also added, as a sidenote, that her voice never really ruined, she just had wanted a legitimate reason to drop the band.

As for Liatra, he basically led a normal life in Knothole, until he moved to Flint during his Sophomore year. He later learned that his older brother and Miles were in the same Geometry class. But anyway, in Flint he picked up a local habit of playing drums, which became a main priority for him. He passed all of his classes with ease, quite easily the best grades in school, so he had no need for extra study. This caused many weeks and weekends of vigorous drum practice in his garage, where his parents "never bothered to put the van." It was perfectly soundproof, or so he said.

When he first started, admittedly, he sucked. The kids on the street who were all about music would stop by when his door was open would discriminate him and tell him to find new hobbies, like making Algebra tests for his fellow students. But over time, he started to greatly improve, sometimes even causing groups of kids to stop by and hang out at various spots along his road, within hearing distance- much to the disapproval of his parents. He found it to just be something fun to do when he got bored, nothing too serious.

- -

**QUE:** _Ceramic_ by 36 Crazyfists

- -

But after about two years, Miles Prower, just about a year and a half older than Liatra, happened to stroll by while Liatra recited one of his made up drum lines. After hearing the last of it, Miles and he started to conversate, which resulted in a few more nifty drum lines and an invitation to Miles' place.

Now Miles lived with Knuckles back then, in a really run down house almost in the center of the city. The house really wasn't Liatra's kind- it was messy, a few paint peels and carpet stains- as opposed to his house, which he liked naturally halfway cleaned. But he ignored this and got down to business. Miles and Knux played a song they had written together, and after the whole thing, complete with Miles' vocals, Liatra took interest and accepted their offer to become their official drummer. This was partly due to the fact that he liked the line "and only God, can save me." He borrowed a few of their cheaply recorded songs on a shitty eight-track and went home to 'study'.

Just a few days after the agreement, Miles and Knuckles brought their stuff over along with their backup guitarist named Justin Jiabnetaro. They were introduced to Liatra's parents, and set up in the garage. Liatra told them to play the fourth track on their demo list, and told them to "just play and don't stop." They played the song, and Liatra just went along with it, and it was almost perfect- which really shocked the original three members. After a few months they had three songs fully done, titled 'Self Revolution', 'Tripled Manic State', and 'Name Your Rapist'. And… that was the start of Liatra's new life.

All Knuckles wanted them to know was that he basically had to raise himself because his dad died and his mom was a whore; he found Miles sleeping up in a tree, in which he looked uncomfortable, so Knuckles 'took him in'; and that he had thieved before. It really set Amy off on an edge, but Arieal just took it in.

"At least he's honest about it. Besides, I'm sure it was a while ago." She looked up at the ceiling to admire its features- a bunch of iron tubes, painted with green-pale, and some lights. She also flipped her radio off, noticing it was going dead. Headquarters hadn't said shit for a long time now, so no need to waste battery. Amy caught this and did the same.

Knuckles chuckled. "That was a very lucky assumption, Arieal. It was a long while ago." He sighed. "Back in my high teen ages- thirteen through seventeen- I was in a gang. Pihno, run by a guy called Darius. We weren't exactly a nice group… there were times when Darius would order an assassination. Two or three people would go out to complete the task- and not by simple gunshot, but by normal items." He looked down. "Torturous. Terrible. But simple, common items. They once carried out an assassination with a window fan, an acoustic guitar, and a plate." He sniffed. "Beat the living shit outta the guy. First the guitar, which he was playing. Just grabbed it and smacked him in the stomach with it. Then, swung, but missed and hit the door, causing it to crack. Then broke the rest over his head… second guy grabbed the fan, and just beat the shit outta him till he was bleeding from an arm and the face- profusely." He stared, and then looked to his right, away from them. "After that… they dragged him into the living room and tied his wrists with a rope they brought, and hung him from a dresser that they turned around. He was just barely touching the ground, facing the back of the dresser. They took turns with a plate- throwing it at him like a Frisbee. Did it for thirty minutes, until he didn't respond- he had purple spots all over, cuts, broken ribs… to finish the deed, they tipped the dresser on top of him. Just left, with his wife crying and his kid just staring." He hung his head and sniffed again.

Amy cocked her head. "Damn… that is terrible! Why would they do such a thing? If I woulda been there…"

Arieal looked at him. "In front of his kid and wife? Damn… you seem pretty affected by it. Did it do something to you? Mess with your head?"

"Shouldn't even bother…" Liatra mumbled quietly.

Knuckles turned to look at them, a lone tear running down his cheek. "It was my dad."

… Silence.

Arieal just stared at him, mouth agape. Sora grabbed Knuckles' hand, Amy covered her mouth, and Hyphen and Liatra just stared up into the ceiling.

… Silence is a big issue here.

"Don't worry… I got them back. Really good. Spared the details, I grabbed a rope and a knife. Finished every one of the fuckers. Six day's work, really." There was silence. Amy was about to speak, but Knuckles beat her to it. "My dad was a traitor of the group. He turned in one of Darius' buddies, who is still in prison. Darius thought I was totally committed and wouldn't care if he murdered my dad. Boy did he forget to do his math."

Amy stood up and started to pace. "So, back in the alley wasn't your first kill?"

Knuckles chuckled. "Oh, trust me. I didn't kill them. In a sense…"

- -

**QUE:** _Aesthetics of Hate_ by Machine Head

- -

Liatra laughed at Knuckles' statement. Arieal frowned. "So, what did you do?"

Knuckles cracked his knuckles. "Well, the small people I just tied up and put in scalding hot water. While they were asleep, of course. Stealthily drugged them. I knew everyone's bath times, as did everyone else. And yes, most just took baths. No showers. And the gang was small, twelve people not including me and Darius." He smiled and punched his palms. "As with Darius… met up with that fucker in his quarters. He had been watching his work on the news. Had my shit hidden. Got up and greeted me, and ready to assign me to some bullshit theft. I grabbed the knife and stabbed him three times, in one leg, the other, and the left arm. Punched him in the face, knocked him down, and tied him up at the hands. Waited until night came around, eating his food, drinking his beverages, whatnot while he never shut up. I dragged him outside, out back, into my dad's van- threw him in the back and drove about thirteen miles away, to a secluded lake in the Delmont Forest, up north. Made my way through and found an old wooden rowing boat, put him in. I had some plywood, as I was simply going to just bury him. But I put the plywood over the boat and flipped it over into some deep brush, bottom up. This wood was thick- hard as a rock. The idiot wouldn't be able to kick his way out of it. Re-covered him in the bushes and left." He looked up, put his feet out, and stared. "I haven't been back to check on him since."

"Gosh, Knuckles… that's brutal." Amy said, in total awe. The whole thing about these criminal acts really started to bother her. But she easily brushed it off… a little.

And that's what made the crimson echidna flinch. "Wait… about back in the alley…"

Arieal looked at Amy and smiled. She looked back at Knuckles, replying with "We'll let you go… those people you killed were who we were after anyway."

"The Blood? Wh… oh. Because they assassinated the Mayor, eh? Fucking idiots…" Hyphen replied. Amy looked over at her hopeful date and smiled.

"Hyphen… what about you? We haven't heard your story yet." She smiled a deep, warm smile. 'I have to know more about him if I'm gonna try to hook up with him.' Hyphen looked over at Amy. He chuckled and winked.

"Normal life, really. Grew up here. It may seem to be impossible to be normal in a town like this, but… well, I was your average kid. Did decent in school, had enough friends to get me by; and enemies too, of course. Started playing guitar and decided to get out and just jam with random people. Never really got into any fights… verbally maybe, but I always win those. Never had a girlfriend, either. Which- for the record, means I'm still a virgin. And I don't jack off- only nerds do that. The time will come. I know it will." He looked a little bit more towards Amy. "But anyways, my parents were… weird… I never really understood why they existed… when they talked to each other; it was about stupid things, like the media. Up until now, I never cared for it, so I just ignored them when they weren't talking to me. Let's see… um… I'm 23… my fur is grey…" A few of the people chuckled, and Hyphen just waved his hand, indicating he was done.

Arieal laughed some more, and then thought for a minute. "Wait… when did you meet T… Miles?" Hyphen looked at her and slightly stopped smiling.

"Oh, yeah. I first met him when this kid in I were about to get into it. His name way Danny. He brought his groupies; Brenten, Steve and Kyle, and they just about ganked me. Out of nowhere the son of a bitch punches Kyle in the face and knocked him completely out. Blood and everything. The three turned to him, except Dan, who charged at me. Miles jumped at him, and grabbed Brenten in a headlock. He wrapped his ankles around the one bound for me, and used the one in his arm as a lever to swing Danny around. He did that and pulled on Brenten's, sending him straight to the ground while Danny flew a few feet away from me. He stomped on Brenten's face once before Steve punched him, making him stagger two steps back." Hyphen leaned back, looked up, and put his hands behind his head. "The fox didn't like that too much, so he grabs the guy's arm, puts his right leg over it, and brings it down, right below the elbow. Broke his arm. Danny ran back at him, but he just leaned back, caught his collar and beltline, and guided his fall onto his face. Figuring that was done, he walked over to Brenten, who was recovering. Upon reaching him Brenten tried to surrender. Miles just laughed and kicked him in the head."

Amy leaned in a tiny bit.

"He walks over to Danny, whom he didn't particularly like either, and grabbed his shirt collar. He looks in the kid's eyes and goes 'I don't care if YOU were the one talking shit, or that kid was. Point is, if you can't fight one on one, you're either scared or you'll never last in a boxing match.' He drops the kid and walks up to me; but not without slightly kicking Dan's ear with his heel. 'Miles. Miles Prower. As you can see, I hate one on more than one.' I just smiled and shook his hand. That was… pretty much it. We walked around a bit before I decided to leave. That's how we became friends."

Arieal frowned. "He didn't ask if you were ok? That's not like Tails…"

Hyphen smiled. "Of course not. We have this thing… if they're standing, and alive, they're ok. If they're wounded, they're ok, and they need treatment. But if they are bleeding like none other, then they aren't ok. It should be obvious."

Amy stood up and stretched. "And he didn't use those… things?"

Hyphen and the others just stared, before Hyphen caught on. "Oh, his blades? No… he doesn't use those often. Only when needed. He doesn't just kill for the hell of it. Only when he knows he's in the presence of death. And when he gets large, large sums of money from higher ups to assassinate."

Amy looked at Hyphen. "Now… explain to me how that works."

Liatra decided to explain instead. He knew more of it, anyway. "When the government people want a criminal out of this town, or… off of the planet, they call Miles, because he can and will do it in less than a day, if possible. But, only, of course when one: he gets large amounts of cash, and two: if they can't catch the fuckers themselves. Flint's government is that twisted."

"So its only criminals?" Amy replied.

Sora got up and started to talk while walking towards the sink. "Yeah. Of course. Tails isn't a murderer. He considers himself one though. He always hates killing people… in fact, when he has to, he sits there and just… stares. He hates it. He claims to rarely… extremely rarely… have wanted someone to die. Only once, back in Knothole, and once at Emerson's, where an official wouldn't let him talk to Hyphen."

Liatra nodded. "Strangely enough, within seventeen hours within those periods, both of his enemies died. People reported the assassin of the official looking like Miles. But several hundred more claim to have seen Miles three miles away, at a small place north of town, at another show. With us. And at the same time of the murder. He was in the crowd watching the other bands until we went on. We were with him- the kid never left."

"And the guys that claimed it to be him were only like… seven other management people. Not many." Knuckles said as he got up to follow Sora.

Amy suddenly looked to Arieal swiftly. "Hey, Air… you DO notice that since we got out of the store, we've been walking… where's our patrol cars?"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

A white bat with black and purple wings pressed the 'call' button for the fifth time. "Amy? Amy! Are you there Amy?" She let go of the button and waited a few more seconds before throwing her three-quarters empty gas station Coke into a nearby trash can, causing some of the brown liquid to splatter slightly on the wall behind. She looked up and sighed. "Now just where in the hell are they going?"

She looked down at the monitor before her. On the monitor were green gridlines, white markings, and two red dots. The white markings were the terrain around the patrol cars in a 25 yard radius. The red dots were Amy and Arieal's patrol cars, labeled accordingly by a red text at the top right corner of each dot. Of course, the gridlines were latitude and longitude.

The two patrol cars were stationed southwest of Oak, in what appeared to be a loading dock environment. But they were seventeen miles away from where they SHOULD be!

The bat pressed the button again. "God dammit Amy, where are you? What the hell are you doing?" She pushed a few buttons on the monitor to change the perspective, but to no avail. Just then Sonic walked in.

"Don't worry about them, Rouge. You know those two. They aren't doing anything but taking a break, probably."

Rouge sighed. "Well, they've been going off course for quite a while. And now they're at this loading dock six miles southwest of Oak… and there are people everywhere…" The neon white bat looked at all of the grey dots that showed the presence of others.

Sonic frowned. "Hm… they don't know anyone down there, that I know of…" He walked up next to the bat and rested his arms on the desk the monitor was on.

Neither of them had any idea what the two were up to. Sonic didn't care too much, for he trusted the two with his throne.

Yes, Sonic Maurice Hedgehog was the king. He took Sally's father's place after he unexpectedly died of a heart attack at a Royal Feast six years after Tails' disappearance. Without her father's consent to object, she inconsequentially married Sonic. Therefore, the two were dubbed King and Queen. This led to a slightly less labored lifestyle in Knothole and the forest surrounding it, which was slowly being excavated about a half a mile a year to build new houses or franchises. Other than those two things, NOTHING had changed.

Their technology had not advanced much further either. The only thing relatively advanced that had been invented was that of a tracking device, made for the Freedom Fighters. Many, many of the elders blamed this on the absence of Miles Prower, the only one smart enough to do anything out of the ordinary. But, one person had some say in the Miles game of inventing. His name was Schooner Wilsen. That's… wile-zin. That's how it was pronounced… unlike the many people who thought it to be pronounced Wilson at first glance.

But anyways, this 25 year old had a knack for inventing. He came from Alex, a place up towards the northeastern area of the continent. He brought along at age 18 and upgraded the FF's ever so cumbersome radio communication devices AND invented the first ever (in Knothole) tracking device. This revolutionized keeping track of the points of authority, such and the Freedom Fighter patrol cars, LeVyines (a large framed vehicle with either heavy or low artillery weapons), and pretty much anything that had to do with the Royal Palace. He had changed the way the Freedom Fighters would keep in touch for a while.

The only flaw, which no one in Knothole had noticed, was that no one had bothered to make a tracking device small enough for -people-. The devices placed under the vehicles were about the size of Arnold Schwarzenegger's hand, and if placed in clothing would either break or cause extreme inflexibility. But then again, he never thought to try it on clothes.

So therefore it led to the current problem- Sonic and Rouge thought that Amy and Arieal were with the patrol cars…

And Schooner thought he was the ever-loving shit…

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Miles brought forth the concept in his mind that there was an uneasy air between him and the two girls. He also brought forth the concept in his mind that he had thought about them the -entire, fucking, way- TO the restaurant, and on the way back. How riveting. And yet another thought, no one really used cars in Flint. He had noticed this several times before, but it still kinda stuck to him. He built these things called 'cars' for import to rich people's garages in other towns. Demand for them was high, but no one used them for what they were made to do… drive. Some did, but… rarely. The jealous people decided to pillage the steelwork with various penetrable objects, like rocks or scraps of metal or glass. Yea… best idea to keep them locked up for show.

He smelled the food in the three bags he had, which were all pretty big (about 12x14 inches), and were nearly all full. He turned the corner of the street, Laney Street, and made his way to his God forsaken alley. Upon reaching it, another left turn promised the entrance of the very small and barely confusing maze that made way to his quarters.

But something felt unnatural.

- -

**QUE:** _Leave Me Out_ by Orgy

- -

He could sense a foreboding aura, one that isn't usually there when he walks through the paved alleyways. He got halfway there and came to an assumption. 'God dammit…'

He walked up to the door and sighed. He looked up, stared for a moment at the grey sky, and turned the handle. Upon opening, there was not too much to see. But he did see Knuckles and Sora at the sink, and heard conversating between Liatra and another female voice… but Sora wasn't talking. He walked in and looked to his right as doing so, and basically mentally stepped on one of his biggest mines yet. The white grey fox looked over to him and changed her expression to a soft 'Oh Shit' look. Miles looked back in front of him, lightly skimmed with anger. "Well shit the bed…"


	8. If It All Just Fits

12/8/07- I have been recently in the mood to type. But writer's block has disabled this, therefore I go home with pent up writing disfunction, and nothing to type on. I'd be happy just ranting, but I was in the mood for stories. Anyways… here.

1/6/08- I must say that I hate going to Texas. It's pitiful there. My computer privileges are VERY limited, and I can never take my guitar. So I found a new liking to anime. Never did before, but… now I do.

10/1/08- RANDOMLY feel like updating.

IF IT ALL JUST FITS…

**Chapter Theme:** _Slavery _by Spineshank

**-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --**

Miles approached the counter upon which the sink was in the center of, and started to open the bags and lay everything out. He quietly and with a low voice started talking to Knuckles. "God Dammit Knux. Why are they still here?"

Knuckles kissed Sora and continued to gently scrub a white plate. He talked with the same tone of voice as his dark orange fox ally did. "Almost kicked 'em out. But I had the intention of seeing if they were truly as heartless as you let on they were." This made Miles roll his eyes. "They seriously miss you, dude. And if they don't, they are -extremely- good liars."

Miles finished laying everything out on the counter with a kind of 'whatever' mindset and stuck his hands under the current of water flowing from the sprocket that provided Knuckles with a rinsing substance. This caused a little bit of Miles' dirty hands water to get on Knux's almost clean plate. "You are an asshole, you know that?"

Miles laughed, dried his hands on his shirt, and walked over to the other side of Knuckles to retrieve a plate that had been dried by Sora. He turned his ass around, walked back over to the food, grabbed his share of the order with a glass of water that he had received from Sora during his three step trek to the other side of Knuckles, and started to walk towards the reclining area of the 'garage' (where Hyphen, the girls, and Liatra were).

"Food's here." He said in a nonchalant tone of undesirable uncaring and pride. Odd mix if you ask me. He received a 'no shit?' from Liatra and responding with a quiet 'Fuck You!'

He glanced at the two girls and Hyphen, then over to Liatra, who seemed to have not the slightest intent on moving. Miles sat diagonally across from Arieal, who was on the semi-adjacent couch's arm with a dearly confused look on her face.

I say semi-adjacent because of this. One couch was about six feet from the wall that held the back door, because Miles and Sora hated when they had to move the couch from the wall to retrieve a desired object that had fallen behind it. And eleven feet in front of it was another couch, but not perfectly aligned with the first one. If you sat on the right side of the first couch, the left side of the other one would be eight and five eights feet away. The left side of the first couch and the right side of the second were about eleven and three quarters feet apart.

In other words, un-fucking-even.

The third couch, which Liatra was sitting on, wasn't so much of a couch as a love seat. Barely two people could fit on it. It was in between but to the side of the gap that left nine feet in between the two couches. So basically if you put another couch towards the sink, you'd have a disproportioned triangle. Get it?

Now, about Arieal's face…

Well, after Miles sat down on the un-proportionally aligned couch (or the second one), he began eating his food. This confused Arieal, for she expected an equally fit rage, similar to the one he had expressed thirty or forty minutes ago. She also noted that he said he'd be back in twenty, and took longer. Pointless, but needed. After seeing his not-doing of this rage matter, she spoke up. "Aren't you gonna like… get angry?"

Liatra crossed his arms in a lazy fashion and laid his head against the top of the back of his 'chair'. Miles looked at her with his head down slightly towards his drink, giving his eyes the opportunity to make that eerie evil looking thing. He took a drink, a ten second one, and then lowered his glass. He stared at her in that position for a few more seconds, the room in total silence, before he raised his head more towards her.

"One, don't ask like that. That's basically asking to get bitched at. It's the same thing as going 'aren't you going to rape me?' and then getting raped because you asked, even though the dude had no intention of doing it." Liatra chuckled a bit, still looking up. "And two… no."

Arieal and Amy, as well as Hyphen, looked at Miles with a sort of confused state of mind, not face. Facial expressions played no role at this point in time. Amy then decided to speak. "Why not?"

Miles stopped mid chew, held it there for a few seconds, dropped his taco onto the plate below him (with care, of course), and continued to chew. After swallowing, he looked to her, now visibly frustrated.

"There it goes again. Don't do that. If I wanted to, I would. Maybe I don't _feel_ like it. Maybe or maybe not there's a giant semi in the way of the door so no matter what I say you wouldn't be ABLE to leave. You should be thankful that I said no, and not ask those questions. It's a privilege, not a right." He looked at Hyphen and shook his head in disappointment, then continued to shove his food down his throat. Hyphen stifled back a laugh, which Liatra couldn't quite do.  
Knuckles appeared with his food in hand and carelessly plopped down next to Miles. If he had a drink, it would've spilled all over the place.

Amy looked at Tails' slick fur. It was slightly glistening, and wasn't full of dirt or grime- thank God that these were a few of the people here that took showers. He was wearing a grey tank top that was skin tight, so his muscular abdomen features were almost clearly noticeable. He had on dark, dark brown baggy jeans, with a few random rips here and there. He had a thin black bracelet on his right wrist and white sleeves on each arm. His shoes were tan (with random patches of brown leather) with white lining, black laces, and a black logo. The lining at the tip of the tongue was also black.

Knuckles was wearing a black jacket with a blackish blue shirt underneath. Blackish blue because it seemed a very dark blue when exposed to light. He had baggy dark blue jeans on, with some normal looking black and white basketball shoes. He had a watch on his right wrist, and his right eyebrow pierced with a small stone. Of what jewel this was, Amy did not know. On his very front left quill, towards the part where it meets his head, was what looked to be a white piece of cloth, thrown on there for style.

She didn't too much care for Liatra or Sora, and she knew what Hyphen was wearing. Of course she did… she can't deny it, so if she tells you so, don't believe her.

Hyphen got up, stretched very slightly, and announced his parting of ways.

"Why?" Amy asked in a half-whiney tone. Knuckles chuckled.

"Cute." He said under his breath, only to where Miles could hear him; thus making Miles almost choke on his food silently in laughter.

Hyphen chuckled. "I just wanna leave. No need to be here. I've got things I wanna do. Besides, you guys have got some talking to do." Hyphen flashed his index finger from Amy to Arieal to Miles. Miles immediately stopped laughing AND chewing, making Knuckles just about roll onto the floor, and causing a very faint 'Genius…' from Sora, who still was in the kitchen area.

Miles stared at him for a few seconds, looked to Arieal and Amy in that specific sequential order, and then looked at Knuckles to find him still laughing. With one felt swoop he slammed his fist (not gently, but not very hard) into Knux's stomach. This caused him to almost spit his food out; but after a moment of having surprised look on his face, leaning forward, and bubbling his cheeks, he recovered, swallowed, and slapped Miles across the face. This caused the red echidna, Hyphen, and Miles to laugh. They had their own amusing things, which some people just couldn't understand. And Arieal and Amy were a few of those people.

Arieal rubbed her legs in a tad of uncomfortable feeling, when she felt her RTD in her pocket. 'Shit… this thing is off…'

Liatra, eyes still closed (when he closed them we don't know), cocked his head away from everyone and spoke. "Well, Hyphen, tell Brigos to bring… me…"

He was interrupted by Arieal's RTF, which no one but her and Amy knew anything about. She smiled sheepishly. "Sorry…" She hit a button and began to speak. "Yea, Rouge…"

She began to speak, but Miles immediately zoned out. He dropped his food and was next to Arieal with his hand over her mouth almost instantly. "You will NOT say my name. At ANY time. Understood?"

Arieal, a bit shocked, nodded as she felt Miles' hand slip from her mouth. He looked her in the eyes. "Take it outside. I don't want to hear any of this." He turned back to the couch and proceeded towards it as Arieal stared for a tad bit longer and turned to walk towards the door. Hyphen followed.

Liatra looked at Amy. "What was that thing?"

Amy looked at Liatra as she pulled out her own, not bothering to turn it on. "An RTD. Radio Transmission Device. Enables you to talk to people from a di-"

"So we've noticed," Miles interrupted. Amy smiled in embarrassment, for they all saw what they do.

"So… yea. That's basically it."

Miles stared at it for a minute and sighed. "Can I see it?"

Amy looked at him, a bit confused, and frowned. "Uh… sure?"

She wouldn't doubt if he smashed it, so she was a bit scared.

He looked at it from how he was holding it for a bit before turning it over and holding it with both hands. He scanned the back diligently and carefully before turning it to the top, where the buttons were. He noticed a huge, round, red tinted glass that he assumed to be the On/Off indicator. He quickly found the 'On/Off' button, heard a faint static, and after four or five seconds watched as the red light clicked on. Immediately his ears were hammered with Arieal and some unfamiliar person's voice. He cocked an eyebrow and pushed a little button on the top with his other hand, holding it with his free hand's index finger. "Yea, Clyde Davis here. So why in the hell is this thing an utter piece of shit?"

Anyone in the room would have heard Sora, who had recently joined Knuckles in the form of sitting on his lap; Knuckles, and Liatra immediately start laughing. Amy covered her mouth with her hand and gasped, as Rouge gave an honest 'who is that?' from the other end.

Arieal burst in the door, wide eyed and RTD at her side. "What the hell are you doing Miles?"

Miles pushed the button again and stood up. "Yea, so this thing is terrible. The voices sound muffled, it's the size of my arm, and the way you have to talk into it is pitiful. Whoever in the hell made this piece of shit should seriously find a better occupation. Such as chewing gum in Gym class."

The hilarity on the renegades' side continued, and the shock overtaking the Freedom Fighters furthered. Rouge phoned back in. "Erm… I'm sorry… sir, you have no permission to use Freedo-"

"And you're not permitted to judge whether or not I'm a Freedom Fighter. Good day."

He immediately shut the contraption off and threw it on the couch. "I'm gonna borrow these when you're done. They're shit, and I'm tired of looking at them."

Amy raised her hand to protest but was interrupted. "I suggest you don't oppose him. I think he's gonna do them good anyways. Nothing of the smash variety."

Amy lowered her hand.

"Yea… Rouge, I have to go. With friends. Bye." Arieal immediately shut the thing off and handed it to Miles (after walking over to him of course) and stared on after him as he went to the kitchen.

He began to wash his hands as he spoke. "I'll have you know that you're absolutely NOT staying here tonight."

And that's where Amy's heart sunk. And Arieal came to a realization- they needed somewhere to stay.


End file.
